What films are you watching?

[norwaysaint]

So what did you not like about Headhunters? (You must have been very keen to see it though, since it's only released today)

 

It's been out on DVD for months here. I got it for Christmas.

[SNSUN]

Saw Taxi Driver last night for the first time. Wow. Great film. Not as brilliant as some people make out, but very watchable and well acted. 9/10

[pap]

Watched Pandorum yesterday. The collective masses on IMDB rate it as 6.8 overall, but I'd give it a 9.

 

The premise involves a two members of a flight team being woken up from hyper-sleep on a long-range spacecraft to address a problem with the ship. In this movie, hypersleep tends to give people short-term amnesia, so our characters are almost as in the dark as we are about their present mission in the early parts of the film. It's a very good narrative device, which keeps you guessing for most of the film (although due to my sci-fi plot detection matrix, I did cotton on to one thing early on).

 

Given that the nature of the film is a mystery, don't really want to spoil it by revealing more - but its a very cool film with a pretty awesome ending. It has my nerd seal of approval.

[pap]

Saw Taxi Driver last night for the first time. Wow. Great film. Not as brilliant as some people make out, but very watchable and well acted. 9/10

 

Brilliant movie back from the days when directors were perfectly happy to do uncomfortable.

 

The date scene at the porn theater was pure genius, giving us a real indication of how far Travis was from mainstream sensibilities. Difficult to watch, though.

[pap]

"I can't stand stuff LIKE" I said - I'm being totally judgemental - I can't be bothered to concentrate on a subtitled film, does my head in! When I watch films, I need to not think and be entertained, like an American. Working for them must be rubbing off on me ...

 

This reminds me of the Father Ted episode, and specifically, Craggy Island's controversial showing of the Passion of St Tibulus. One of the patrons leaves when she discovers that the film is subtitled.

 

So your first alternative is to watch a dubbed version. Far worse, imo. You lose half the performance of the actors, plus the suspension of disbelief takes a serious hammering when the English words don't sync with the foreign lip movements.

 

The only other option is to not watch foreign language films. I know it can be a pain in the arse to watch a movie with subtitles. It pretty much demands your complete attention ( you can't multi-task with an iPad, etc ). However, in a time where Hollywood is becoming increasingly risk-averse ( something like 96% of movies released in the last two years were remakes or adaptations ), foreign language films offer a genuine alternative. It'd be a shame to miss out on that for want of a bit of reading.

[Jonnyboy]

Watched Pandorum yesterday. The collective masses on IMDB rate it as 6.8 overall, but I'd give it a 9.

 

The premise involves a two members of a flight team being woken up from hyper-sleep on a long-range spacecraft to address a problem with the ship. In this movie, hypersleep tends to give people short-term amnesia, so our characters are almost as in the dark as we are about their present mission in the early parts of the film. It's a very good narrative device, which keeps you guessing for most of the film (although due to my sci-fi plot detection matrix, I did cotton on to one thing early on).

 

Given that the nature of the film is a mystery, don't really want to spoil it by revealing more - but its a very cool film with a pretty awesome ending. It has my nerd seal of approval.

 

You must have netflix cos I watched that Saturday night.

 

Insidious is worth a watch too.

[Sheaf Saint]

Watched 'A lonely place to die' last night. Great first half movie, second half was a fuc king joke, it went stupid, lost the plot, biggest load of boll ox I've ever watched.

 

I just watched this today and I really enjoyed it. Yeah it's a little far fetched towrads the end but I thought it was a very well-crafted and tense film.

[dubai_phil]

Attack the Block.

 

Must have been made for about 25 quid and they spent 2.50 on the CGI/men in Gorilla suits monsters.

 

But what a crackingly daft yarn. For us oldies shows us the yoof culture but with a lot of humour. Had moments when I wanted to barf at the gruesome endings and moments of real ROFL-ness. Suppose it's what I should have expected from the Shaun of the Dead Crew.

 

Totally different, totally enjoyable and how to categorise it? Aliens attack a Tower Block in Sarf London & the yoof ain't avin it innit

[pap]

Attack the Block.

 

Must have been made for about 25 quid and they spent 2.50 on the CGI/men in Gorilla suits monsters.

 

But what a crackingly daft yarn. For us oldies shows us the yoof culture but with a lot of humour. Had moments when I wanted to barf at the gruesome endings and moments of real ROFL-ness. Suppose it's what I should have expected from the Shaun of the Dead Crew.

 

Totally different, totally enjoyable and how to categorise it? Aliens attack a Tower Block in Sarf London & the yoof ain't avin it innit

 

Is this the Shaun of the Dead crew?

 

I know Nick Frost has a role in it, but Attack the Block was written and directed by Joe Cornish ( of Adam and Joe fame ). Did a very good job on the budget, and is now on the radar of quite a few producers as a result.

[Thedelldays]

saw titanic again the other night.

 

maybe because I was 17 when it came out the first time..I actually appreciated what a very very good film this is this time round

[miserableoldgit]

In 3D?

 

Sent from my HTC Desire S using Tapatalk

[dubai_phil]

Is this the Shaun of the Dead crew?

 

I know Nick Frost has a role in it, but Attack the Block was written and directed by Joe Cornish ( of Adam and Joe fame ). Did a very good job on the budget, and is now on the radar of quite a few producers as a result.

 

Yeah apparently the Producers or something.

 

It has that SotD feel to it. It could have been better, some critics moaned not enough horror/gore/humour, but I thought the balance was just right. It felt WRONG laughing at a life or death chase and someone getting eaten, it felt cliched the - you go and look line but they all just worked.

 

Nick Frost has a small part playing a Stoner you know you've seen that scene/lines before but the "Is it safe yet?" "No" "Ah, OK" line again just cracks up a "very tense" moment

[Thedelldays]

In 3D?

 

Sent from my HTC Desire S using Tapatalk

yeah

[norwaysaint]

This reminds me of the Father Ted episode, and specifically, Craggy Island's controversial showing of the Passion of St Tibulus. One of the patrons leaves when she discovers that the film is subtitled.

 

So your first alternative is to watch a dubbed version. Far worse, imo. You lose half the performance of the actors, plus the suspension of disbelief takes a serious hammering when the English words don't sync with the foreign lip movements.

 

The only other option is to not watch foreign language films. I know it can be a pain in the arse to watch a movie with subtitles. It pretty much demands your complete attention ( you can't multi-task with an iPad, etc ). However, in a time where Hollywood is becoming increasingly risk-averse ( something like 96% of movies released in the last two years were remakes or adaptations ), foreign language films offer a genuine alternative. It'd be a shame to miss out on that for want of a bit of reading.

 

I suppose it's a bit different for me because i can understand them at least mostly without the text, but I do enjoy watching Norwegian and Swedish films just because it's nice to watch films that aren't at all "Hollywood" sometimes. American and British films are better when they're great, but have generally become quite lazy and formulaic and although they are often bad too, at least films from other countries aren't tied into the same formula. I watch mostly English language stuff, but the alternative is a refreshing change that stops it all getting boring once in a while.

[norwaysaint]

Attack the Block was a good debut, but was never brilliant. I love Joe Cornish and I'm really hoping he gets a chance to make more films and really get it right next time. They were always going to be in trouble making the monsters not seem silly on that kind of budget.

[pap]

I suppose it's a bit different for me because i can understand them at least mostly without the text, but I do enjoy watching Norwegian and Swedish films just because it's nice to watch films that aren't at all "Hollywood" sometimes. American and British films are better when they're great, but have generally become quite lazy and formulaic and although they are often bad too, at least films from other countries aren't tied into the same formula. I watch mostly English language stuff, but the alternative is a refreshing change that stops it all getting boring once in a while.

 

Indeed, and we are looking to places like Scandinavia and the Far East for new ideas when it comes to entertainment. The Killing has a US version, while Wallander has been re-made with British actors.

 

If movies are a form of escapism, then foreign movies offer some of the best escape possiblities - allowing you not only to leave your own life for a couple of hours, but just to swim in someone else's culture for a bit.

[dubai_phil]

Ah bless TCM was showing Escape to Victory tonight/

 

How great to see all those old faces, Pele, Ossie Ardilles, Sir Bobby (RIP), Mike Sumerbee, Paul Van Winst, hell - even our own Russell HOOF Osman...

 

And also a big shout out to those other great stars of the movie. The Northam Stewards, there in their cute Grey Uniforms, Metal Safety hats and Rifles, straight from a Saturday afternoon without a change of uniforms.

[TheCholulaKid]

Attack the Block was a good debut, but was never brilliant. I love Joe Cornish and I'm really hoping he gets a chance to make more films and really get it right next time. They were always going to be in trouble making the monsters not seem silly on that kind of budget.

 

Just watched it this evening. I thought the monsters looked pretty good - interesting extra how they went about doing it.

 

I mentioned it on the other thread by mistake so I'll say it again here:

 

Meek's Cutoff - beautiful looking, slow, drawn out Western. Well worth the effort if you're in it for the journey.

[miserableoldgit]

Just watched "Dead Heads" a zombie road movie! I have drunk a few glasses of wine, but I can`t make up my mind if it is a heap of poo or a minor cult classic. Three "good" zombies go on a trip to find the former girlfriend of one of them. I think that I actually quite enjoyed it.

[dubai_phil]

Flight to the Stag weekend watched The Darkest Hour.

 

Very clever Alien invasion end of the world teen kids movie, with the slant that they are randomly thrown together in a club in Moscow when the sh1t goes down.

 

Very good "Invisible Aliens", a few seconds when you get nabbed to experience the horror of knowing you're about to get kerzapped, no hope, no idea how to read a map...... But then that was it, which really ain't enough to fill an episode of Dr Who these days let alone a movie

 

But then the characters are shallow, the story line is just a little bit on the oh yeah of course, the big reveal of what the Aliens are after is sort of a oh.

 

A good effort and has the potential for a decent sequel and worth a DVD from Blockbuster with a couple of beers on a rainy night or to kill 89 minutes on a 5 hour flight.

 

Could have been a hell of a lot better, they really wasted the opportunity to film in Moscow which had so much potential. I saw it on a 10" screen, I got the feeling the Director still thought it was cool to have things fly in your face to make you jump by making it in 3D.

 

As a time filler 6/10

 

As a pay to watch 3/10

[LVSaint]

The Descendants - Quite heart warming and uplifting (for the subject matter) and a great setting, was ok.

Attack the Block - Pretty good. Was hoping for a bit more substance and a little more humour from Nick Frost's character.

[dubai_phil]

The Descendants - Quite heart warming and uplifting (for the subject matter) and a great setting, was ok.

Attack the Block - Pretty good. Was hoping for a bit more substance and a little more humour from Nick Frost's character.

 

Does Nick Frost actually ever play a character or does he always play himself? He just seems to be that kind of Stoner/Alien Convention sort of guy

[CHAPEL END CHARLIE]

I saw 'The Hunger Games' the other day and I kinda liked it.

 

Set not very far in the future, as a punishment for a failed uprising (and just as importantly a mass TV entertainment) each district of 'Pan Am' has to despatch a randomly selected teenage boy and girl off to the hunger games every year. The games are like a bastardised combination of Big Brother and Lord of the Flys, where our selected teenagers fight for survival against natural and each other. Naturally only one teen can emerge alive .....

 

Being 30 years older than its target audience I've seen movies like it before, but this is a good effort and well worth seeing I'd say.

[Monk]

I saw 'The Hunger Games' the other day and I kinda liked it.

 

Set not very far in the future, as a punishment for a failed uprising (and just as importantly a mass TV entertainment) each district of 'Pan Am' has to despatch a randomly selected teenage boy and girl off to the hunger games every year. The games are like a bastardised combination of Big Brother and Lord of the Flys, where our selected teenagers fight for survival against natural and each other. Naturally only one teen can emerge alive .....

 

Being 30 years older than its target audience I've seen movies like it before, but this is a good effort and well worth seeing I'd say.

 

Was dragged along to this, reminded me of Fifth Element meets Big Brother meets Lord of the Fly's.

 

Can not see how they will make four films out of it.

[Thedelldays]

saw the hunger games yesterday too

 

was good...cant really see how they can kick the arse out of more films though

[Nexstar]

21 Jump Street - After it's build-up I was a bit disappointed. Certainly funny in places, but a long way off being the new Superbad. 6.5/10

[Bearsy]

Anyone seen dis yet? Is it any good? Does Rihanna give good boner?

 

[pap]

Went to see The Avengers last night ( UK title: Marvel Avengers Assemble *sigh* ).

 

Very good film - takes a little while to get going but is pretty full on by the end. Out of all the characters in it, think I liked The Hulk the best.

[Sheaf Saint]

Watched Take Shelter the other night...

 

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/take_shelter/

 

Considering not much is ever really happening it's an incredibly tense film, beautifully filmed and with a powerhouse perfromance from Michael Shannon in the lead role as a man who is apparently spiralling into a mental disorder. Highly recommended.

[LVSaint]

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy - Needs full attention throughout. Heavy and gritty. Gary Oldman is brilliant.

[bridge too far]

By chance, I noticed that Moulin Rouge was on TV and I was just in time to see the 'Roxanne Tango'. Probably the most erotic, dangerous dance scene I've ever seen in a movie. I'm now watching the unexpurgated version on the DVD - brilliant. Only Cell Block Tango from Chicago comes close.

[Nexstar]

Moneyball - About a struggling baseball team and a new system that manages to change their fortunes around. Has Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill in the lead roles.

 

Really good film actually, I liked the way it was directed in particular.

 

8/10

[sebastian firefly]

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy - Needs full attention throughout. Heavy and gritty. Gary Oldman is brilliant.

oldman was good but having watched both tinker and smileys bbc series Guiness is truly sublime

[CHAPEL END CHARLIE]

Went to see The Avengers last night ( UK title: Marvel Avengers Assemble *sigh* ).

 

Very good film - takes a little while to get going but is pretty full on by the end. Out of all the characters in it, think I liked The Hulk the best.

 

I agree.

 

Not really my type of thing but took the boy along to see it and - as popcorn movies go - I thought this was but no means a bad effort. Just enough humour to show that it wasn't taking itself too seriously as well.

 

My favorite scene was when Loki was just getting into a long and detailed critique of the Avengers motivations, only for Hulk to grab him by the ankles and start bashing him from side to side deep into the floor in a most uncompromising manner - great fun.

[LVSaint]

 

My favorite scene was when Loki was just getting into a long and detailed critique of the Avengers motivations, only for Hulk to grab him by the ankles and start bashing him from side to side deep into the floor in a most uncompromising manner - great fun.

 

Got the biggest laugh in the cinema. Good film.

 

Prometheus trailer looked great ont eh big screen and I'm happy that Fox just announced it will get it's intended 18/R rating and will not be dumbed down for kids.

[Nexstar]

50/50 - Follows a 27 year old guy battling against cancer. Pretty emotional in places and a good film overall. 7.5/10

[CHAPEL END CHARLIE]

Got the biggest laugh in the cinema. Good film.

 

Prometheus trailer looked great ont eh big screen and I'm happy that Fox just announced it will get it's intended 18/R rating and will not be dumbed down for kids.

 

I saw the highly promising Prometheus trailer too, and as a fanatical fan of the first two Alien series movies (I'm old enough to remember the profound impact both Alien & Blade Runner had on release) I'm looking forward to this film more than I can say. One can only hope that we not in for a another disappointing let down such as Terminator Salvation proved to be.

 

But with that genius film director Ridley Scott back on board I trust we should be in safe hands.

[LVSaint]

I saw the highly promising Prometheus trailer too, and as a fanatical fan of the first two Alien series movies (I'm old enough to remember the profound impact both Alien & Blade Runner had on release) I'm looking forward to this film more than I can say. One can only hope that we not in for a another disappointing let down such as Terminator Salvation proved to be.

 

But with that genius film director Ridley Scott back on board I trust we should be in safe hands.

 

I think that's all we need to know. It's his special baby and he'll do it justice f'sure. The cast looks very decent too - Idris Elba, Michael Fassbender, Noomi Rapace.

[Nexstar]

In Darkness - Follows a group of Jews who spend 14 months living in the Polish sewers to escape the Nazis. Quite a harrowing film but very good nonetheless. 8/10

[miserableoldgit]

Just watched "Stolen Lives" on Sky. Didn't know much about it but turned out to be a damn fine film. A policeman whose young son is missing is assigned to a 50 year old case eerily similar. Well worth a watch.

 

Sent from my HTC Desire S using Tapatalk 2

[Glasgow_Saint]

how i spent my summer vacation = v.good

[mightysaints]

Just seen John Carter,pretty good

[dubai_phil]

how i spent my summer vacation = v.good

 

Yeah just finished watching that this evening.

 

Considering he is supposed to be some nutter pariah in Hollywood, Mel Gibson has simply returned to type and gives us a (Surprisingly) damned good Action/Thriller/Modern Day Spaghetti Western.

 

You kinda have no clear idea what is going on until late in the movie but Mel just plays an older version of the psycho/sociopath Riggs from Lethal Weapon days banged up in a (real but closed down in 2002) (WTF)?? Jail in Mexico. (El Peublito)

 

You probably aren't going to go to the Cinema to see it, but WELL worth the download/DVD/selecting it on a long summer holiday flight.

 

Good story, Mel delivers as does the support cast, the location & action shots are simple but excellent.

 

Surprisingly I give it an 8/10 in the sit down for the evening with the brain switched off category.

[pap]

I saw the highly promising Prometheus trailer too, and as a fanatical fan of the first two Alien series movies (I'm old enough to remember the profound impact both Alien & Blade Runner had on release) I'm looking forward to this film more than I can say. One can only hope that we not in for a another disappointing let down such as Terminator Salvation proved to be.

 

But with that genius film director Ridley Scott back on board I trust we should be in safe hands.

 

Got a lot of time for the Alien films myself, Charlie. Aliens is still one of the best action movies ever made, and holds up better than nearly every other contemporary released within a few years of it. With the exception of a couple of VDUs, even Alien still looks beautiful.

 

I liked Salvation, but didn't love it. It's never going to get the sort of repeated play that T2 gets. Mind you, I was also a huge fan of 3. Sure, parts of it were a retread of the same formula, but the ending was fantastic. No matter what your misgivings about Salvation, it's still a lot more respectful to long-term fans than the Aliens vs Predator movies, especially the execrable AVP2: Requiem.

Edited 20 May, 2012 by pap

[Saint J 77]

I've just watched "Moon" on DVD. I have seen it before but watching it again reminded me how brilliant it actually is! If you like thoughtful science fiction movies then its well worth a watch. It also has a brilliant atmospheric soundtrack too.

 

[Saint J 77]

Moneyball - About a struggling baseball team and a new system that manages to change their fortunes around. Has Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill in the lead roles.

 

Really good film actually, I liked the way it was directed in particular.

 

8/10

 

I watched this recently too. I very interesting film if not action packed. You can see how some of Billy Beane's ideas have moved on into other sports.

Edited 31 May, 2012 by Saint J 77

[Hamilton Saint]

Zéro de conduite by Jean Vigo (1933) - about his boarding school experiences. A big influence on Truffaut's 400 Blows and Lindsay Anderson's If ....

[View From The Top]

Iron Sky - Legendary.

[Jonnyboy]

I've just watched "Moon" on DVD. I have seen it before but watching it again reminded me how brilliant it actually is! If you like thoughtful science fiction movies then its well worth a watch. It also has a brilliant atmospheric soundtrack too.

 

 

Great film, Clint Mansell always does good soundtracks.

 

Watched the Devils Double on Netflix last week and that was definitely worth a watch.

[Hamilton Saint]

saw titanic again the other night.

 

maybe because I was 17 when it came out the first time..I actually appreciated what a very very good film this is this time round

 

 

A Night to Remember is a much better film about the Titanic disaster.